5 Direct Mail Marketing Tips to Help You Reach Potential Clients

Are you afraid of sending print mailers only for them to end up in the trash? It’s actually more likely people are hoping for direct mail promotions. In fact, 54% of consumers say they want to receive mail from brands they’re interested in.

If you’re struggling to get in front of new clients, direct mail can help you reach out.

Here are five direct mail marketing tips that can help. With these tips, you can gain exposure and reach new customers in no time!

1. Reveal Your Value

Your mailer is more than just a scrap of paper. Focus on the value you’re offering customers from the get-go. This builds excitement and keeps them from tossing your mailer aside. 

Another way to reveal your value is by opening the mailer with a proposition.

People are always on-the-go and in a rush. Instead of slowly building anticipation, attract the reader’s attention immediately. Focus on your value from the get-go to draw people in.

If your proposition fails to capture their attention, you know to open your next mailer with a different value. 

You can even make the physical mailer valuable by designing it as a checklist or a puzzle. Check out this service to discover other creative ways to make your mailer stand out.

Providing value stops people from seeing your mailer as junk mail. Imagine your customer pulling a bundle of mail from their mailbox at once. How does your mailer stand out from the crowd?

Be bold in your creativity, but don’t forget to put your value at the forefront of your content.

That way, recipients are more likely to hold onto your mailer and keep you in mind. 

2. Know Your Audience

What will attract your reader’s attention? What do they need?

When you know your audience, it’s a lot easier to write content that appeals to their interests. As with any strategy, direct mail marketing requires you to communicate with a niche audience. 

Develop a buyer’s persona to organize your broad audience into distinct groups. 

Then, use your direct mail campaign to connect with each persona. Adding an emotional appeal will make it easier to draw people in, too. 

Make sure you tailor your content to your specific audience groups.

Sending out a mass mailer with a broad message won’t connect with everyone. Instead, invest in learning about your customers. Discover their shopping preferences and behaviors.

Then, you can create a mailer that’s personalized to their needs, making it easier for you to boost sales.

3. Consider Your CTA

Once they receive your direct mail campaign, what do you want people to do?

A strong, direct call-to-action will compel your readers to react and respond. Instead of informing people of a new product or sale, encourage them to buy with your CTA. This gives your content purpose and drives people to do something after reading your mailer.

Get creative with it!

Direct mail marketing no longer means just mail. How can you use your brand to send a creative message?

For example, you can send your direct mail campaign through a message in a bottle. If you’re a coffee company, send mugs with your logo on it! Then, connect it back to your CTA.

For the coffee company, you can tell your audience to bring in their mug for a dollar off their next cup of coffee. Now you’re being environmentally conscience and drawing in foot traffic. 

If you try this creative tactic, focus on quality, not quantity.

It’s more effective to draw in a small crowd of paying customers than a big crowd of people who aren’t interested.  

4. Include Samples

Who doesn’t love free samples?

A product sample instantly makes your mailer more valuable. This part of your direct mail marketing strategy will help you connect with customers. Once they experience your product firsthand, it’s easier for them to see the value you have to offer.

Samples can also add a little extra heft to your envelopes. A heavier envelope entices people, sparking their curiosity so they wonder what’s inside. If you can get them to wonder, chances are you can get them to open your mailer to take a look.

Focus on different ways you can drive their curiosity.

For example, you can indicate there’s a “free gift inside” but not specify the gift. This will encourage your audience to open the mailer. Then, they’ll read your content, try the sample, and interact with your brand.  

Offering your readers a sample turns paper mail into a trial tool.

Make sure it’s something useful, too. What will people use every day? Maybe it’s a pen or a pair of sunglasses. Add your logo and people will experience your brand a little every day.

Consider this an opportunity to test new products on your audience. If they enjoy using the sample, they’ll feel enticed to purchase a full-sized product next.

5. Test It Out and Follow Up

Before you send out an entire campaign, test a smaller market first. Testing your direct mail campaign ahead of time can help you save money in the long run.

If your mailer isn’t successful with your test audience, you have the chance to make improvements. Then you can try again for more success the second time around. 

Direct mail marketing receives a 4.4% response rate. Meanwhile, email receives a .12% response.

Once your mailers are out in the world, follow up. Try sending a letter next. Personalize it with the recipient’s name as well.

Following up with your prospects can help you turn those potential leads into paying customers. 

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: 5 Direct Mail Marketing Tips

There’s nothing like searching through the mail to find a coupon or product reveal waiting. With these five direct mail marketing tips, you can turn your next direct mail campaign into a sales success!

Head over to the Content Strategy section of the blog for more marketing tips!